


Dawn of Justice: Rework

by gavin598



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, DC Extended Universe, Justice League - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:47:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23761051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gavin598/pseuds/gavin598
Summary: The World was shaken with the reveal of the Superman, now amidst a coming storm, Earth's heroes and villains must come to grips with how that changes their reality.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is simply a frustrated fan's rework of Dawn of Justice, obviously a few scenes will mirror or reflect some from the film but largely this will follow its own path. Man of Steel and Wonder Woman will be considered canon without changes and should be considered for context within this story. Any feedback or reviews that you can offer will be greatly appreciated. (Cross-posting on Fanfic.net)

Prologue:

The World Shakes

It takes much to shake men who have watched their worlds collapse, but despite that Bruce’s legs still felt like jelly as the chopper veered towards the smoking city. The wind ripped through his long black hair as they approached the ground a few miles away from the Wayne Tech building. He shot a quick glance towards the pilot, who shook his head grimly. Bruce leapt towards the ground before it could even land and sprinted towards the car that was waiting for him.

\-----------

Dick Grayson tackled two people away from a section of the building as it collapsed into a cloud of smoke and debris. The screams and destruction were deafening as he tried to drag the two men to their feet and forced them forward. His face was matted with sweat and dust as he was gasping trying to find some air that was not filled with dust. He went to wipe the sweat from his face and was not surprised to find the dust and grim highlighted by drops of his blood.

The world fell silent for a moment before the windows around him cracked and exploded and sent glass spilling into the room. He caught a brief glimpse of a red blur that blew past the building. He turned his attention back towards the crowd and directed them towards the stairwell. “Lucius?” He screamed towards the older man who was now running towards him. 

“Just go Grayson!” He yelled back as the red form appeared again in Dick’s peripheral.

Dick had just made it to the stairwell as the form tore through the floor followed by another darker form. Dick felt himself get flung backwards down the stairs followed by another cloud of smoke. His head cracked against the wall at the bottom of the flight of stairs. Several pairs of hands grabbed for him and pulled him to his feet.

\-----------------------

Bruce roared past several cars that were screaming away from the chaos. He pressed redial on the steering wheel again but was sent straight to voicemail. His mind leapt towards that night again. The bloodstained armor blasted through his mind and his foot pressed towards the floorboard. His eyes followed the skyline as the form of a man stopped and hovered in place for a moment. His eyes locked on its long red cape that fluttered through the air before blasting forward shattering windows and blasting through a building. 

His eyes leapt back to the road just in time to swerve around a car that’s horn was blasting at him. Massive chunks of concrete connected a few feet away from him as he raced around the corner bringing the massive W into sight. His breath caught in his throat for a moment as he studied the crumbled ruins. A group of panicked people were charging from the wreckage. A cloud of smoke engulfed them as a chunk of concrete came flying from the side and cracked against the side of Bruce’s car sending him skidding to the side and crashing against another destroyed building.

Blood flowed down the side of his head. He shook his head clearing his vision and kicked the door loose. He leapt from the car and immediately fell to the ground before stumbling to his feet. Amidst the chaos, a cry cut through the air drawing his eyes, a small girl screamed wildly as she tried to find her family. Bruce look up with horror as another chunk of concrete teetered above her, he leapt forward grabbing her away as the chunk crashed against the ground. He fell to his knees looking at the girl, “Your mom and dad?” He asked desperately already knowing the truth. She shook her head pointing towards a pile of rubble. Bruce’s heart sank as he held her and lifted her to help her towards the sounds of approaching sirens.

\-----------one month later-------------

Bruce stared at the heart monitor as it chirped away in an otherwise silent room. A figure appeared in the doorway and watched him for a few moments. “Alfred.” Bruce greeted him grimly as he stood and walk towards Grayson’s unconscious form. 

The older man walked in silently and laid a hand on the railing of Dick’s hospital bed grimacing to himself before turning to face Bruce, who was still staring at Dick unable to break his gaze. The silence bore down on both men for a moment before Bruce managed to speak again, “How many?’  
“They’re still trying to count; it really is too hard to even hamper a guess Master Wayne.” Alfred responded releasing his death grip on the railing.

Bruce leaned back in chair and shook his head; the bush of long black hair went every direction and scruff had begun to grow at his jawline. The trademark circles under his eyes that had been there for as long as Alfred could remember had grown larger in the past few days. “And Lucius?”

Alfred looked away again and his shoulders dipped low, “They never could find a body, at least not a recognizable one. DNA tests are bound to be backed up for months or years.”

Bruce nodded before finally climbing to his feet after what had felt like years sitting in that room. He laid a hand on Alfred’s shoulder and gripped tightly for a second before moving towards the door prompting the older man to follow him towards the exit. “Where are you going sir?”

“I’m going to war.”

\----------------

Sparks exploded off the drills as a bald man walked past several workers bringing the ship into view. He studied the symbols on the halls of the ship as he walked through them and approached the group of politicians that were gathered around the doors at the end of the hall. “Gods take much but often in their wrath they can reveal their gifts to us.”

The group of people turned towards Lex Luthor as he laid his hand on the door and felt it for a moment. “This was a tragedy. Beyond debate.” He muttered quietly before turning back to meet their gaze, “But perhaps we can build on the foundation of that wreckage.”

“Easy to say when you picked up the contracts repairing the city.” The oldest senator responded coldly.

“And here I am offering to rebuild the world instead.” He smirked, “Free of charge.”

“Rebuild the world? It hasn’t been destroyed.”

“That’s where you are wrong. We just witnessed the most violent forceful stage of human evolution in our history, and if we aren’t careful, we will witness that violent force on a global scale.”

A red-haired woman broke from the crowd and approached him, “What are you proposing?”

“The next arms race won’t be atomic, or nuclear, or any other force available to man. It will be extra-terrestrial, and we can win it. All sponsored by Lex Corp, unless you’d rather see man become obsolete to the superman, but that choice is yours.”

\-------------------

The dim glow of the screen had nearly beaten Clark into a light snooze out of sheer boredom. Another day, another sports editorial assigned to him by Perry, while Lois was off reporting on the dedication of the monument in the center of the city. He clicked the TV on and leaned back in his chair as the mayor climbed the steps towards the microphone that had been set up. Yesterday’s paper was still sprawled across his desk with the headline, broken by Lois, that reported the Mayor’s shocking pro-Superman stance that would guide the ceremony.

There was so much anger and confusion in the city in the wake of Zod’s invasion, much of it directed at Clark and he could hardly blame them. He had been reckless, and despite his inexperience it was largely inexcusable. The camera panned around and focused on Lois, who was describing the various donors that had sponsored the monument being built up, “Wayne Industries shockingly pulled out of the sponsorship after yesterday’s statement by the Mayor regarding the Superman.”

Clark shook his head and turned back to his computer when a subtle click that would have gone unnoticed to anyone, but it was near deafening to him. His eyes jumped around the immediate area, on the TV, where a flurry of activity was taking place but none of it seemed to explain the noise. A horrific realization began to dawn on him as a dark van appeared on the screen settling behind the monument as the Mayor began to speak.

Clark glanced around before standing and beginning to make his way towards the elevator shaft. “Kent!” A booming voice called him as he ducked into the stairwell, cursing the long wait for the elevator. Perry White appeared in the bullpen, “Kent! Did Clark get lost in a corn field again?” He demanded of another reporter, who shrugged.

\------------

Lois took a few steps forward and directed Jimmy to do the same as they tried to force their way closer to the front of the crowd. “Do you have the shot?” She whispered to him, eliciting a quick nod. She turned her attention back to the stage and began scribbling notes as the mayor continued to speak.

“I am not ignorant of the consequences of the position that I have taken, but the fact still remains that had this…. Superman…. not intervened when he had, not only would the tragedies that have befallen us in this city been far far worse, but they would have been committed on a global scale. This was not his war brought here. It was our war, fought by a champion on our behalf.” 

Lois’ eyes drifted from the stage towards the monument where they lingered for a few moments before catching a strange metallic glint. She narrowed her vision before tackling Jimmy to the ground, “Get down!”

The whoosh of the rocket was unmistakable as the smoke trail exploded from the van. The stage should have been engulfed in flames but the follow through never came. The Mayor turned and helped a staffer to their feet before trying to figure out what had happened. Lois smirked slightly as a moment later, a red blur cut through the area.

\----------------

“What the hell happened back there?” The driver of the van demanded with a thick Russian accent, “Where the hell did you fire that thing?”

“I swear to god, I just fired it at the stage as you instructed Anatoli.” The shooter lowered the weapon with a bewildered look on his face.

The confused silence sat between them for only a few moments before the Driver cursed under his breath and cranked the engine to life. “We have to get the hell out of here right now.”

His words were cut off as the van suddenly lurched and lifted into the air and began tumbling. Glass sprayed through the interior as the passenger tumbled against the roof and floor. The driver gripped the wheel as tight as he could.

\-------------

Bruce leaned back in his seat with narrowed eyes as the spoke dissipated on screen. He folded his hands before picking up his phone and dialing Alfred’s number but kept his vision trained on the screen. The van tore away from the scene in the background but was intercepted a few moments later sending it flying with a flurry of shattered glass.

\--------------

Clark floated to the ground as the van finished tumbling. He focused his vision and spotted the two men within scrambling for their weapons. He took a step forward burst through the other side of the van holding a man in each of his hands as sirens and lights appeared on the horizon. As he appeared on the other side of the van, the monuments erupted into a ball of smoke and flames as a secondary charge went off sending debris into the air. Clark dropped the men and took a step towards the disaster, suddenly felt his stomach churn and his knees turn to jelly. 

He screamed at himself to move but only managed to stumble as people scattered around him. A cold sweat ran down the back of his neck, and just like that it was gone. Superman leapt into action, but much the damage had already been done. The mayor lay in a pool of blood where he had fallen after trying to shield an aide as the blast had gone off. Clark started trying to round up survivors and the injured and help them towards the emergency vehicles.

One of the two men rolled over and flicked a small cylinder towards the nearby sewer drain. The vial rolled and silently fell into the sewer, as he pressed a small green button on his wrist. Several officers grabbed the two men up and they immediately began fighting back screaming about the invaders like madmen. The officers exchanged knowing glances with other before forcing the men into the patrol cars and rushing off towards the disaster scene behind them. 


	2. Pandora's Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dark Knight of Gotham arrives in Metropolis while elsewhere a lost warrior receives troubling warnings of a coming storm.

“That is exactly why I distanced us from the monument dedication.” Bruce responded coldly as he looked out the car window and watched the Metropolis skyline come into view on the other side of the bridge, “It was a powder keg, and while I am slow to besmirch the dead, Mayor Phillips knew damn well what the risks were when he choose to take that position.”

Alfred glanced up in the rear view before turning his eyes back to the road. “Of course, Wayne Tech will continue to support the rescue and response effort both in the recent attack and in Luthor Corp’s ongoing build project. Wayne Tech’s view, or lack thereof, on the Superman aspect of these events is not going to stop or even cause hesitation in our willingness to lend our support to these communities that have been decimated. I am personally going to Metropolis now to oversee the delivery of another round of supplies being delivered to one of the shelters, and an orphanage.”

The car turned onto the bridge and began making its way towards the waiting city as Bruce wrapped up the call and hung up. “You going to lie to me and tell me that supplies run really needed to be headed up by the CEO?”

Bruce shot Alfred a glance before leaning back in his chair and resting his hand on his briefcase, “I always intended to oversee the orphanage’s supplies being delivered, those kids need the help, but after yesterday’s attack the Bat could use a chance to look into a few things so I extended the stay a bit.”

“What exactly are you looking for?”

“What could make the man of steel hesitate.” Bruce responded, “Of all his reckless faults, Superman has never been slow, he could have and should have been able to intercept most of the shrapnel from the monument and the device, but something made him stop. Something those two had, I don’t know if they hurt him or what, but it has to be worth looking into, don’t you think?”

“You want to find out if he has a weakness?” Alfred took the stab at him.

Bruce shot him another glare at the older man before nodding, “If god has a weakness, would it not be foolish to try and discover exactly what that is?”

“To try and get it in the right hands or destroy it, I hope.” Alfred responded.

Bruce had no response and turned silently back the window. They drove in silence a few minutes before Bruce finally found the words, “Do tell Alfred, what have we done with people who have a tenth of the body count of that alien?”  
“Those bodies are not sins for him to be held accountable for. If you are going to go to war, at least ensure that this man is our enemy.”   
“What is it you want from me Alfred; all we have ever done is bring down people and threats and that would actively put innocents in danger.”  
“We go after criminals Master Wayne. That is what we’ve done, after the crime has been committed, to avenge those that have been lost. We don’t judge guilt prior to the act. We aren’t judges.” Alfred turned off the bridge and onto the main road bringing the massive reconstruction of the Wayne tower into view, “You have always told me that this was not about unleashing your anger and pain onto the world. Please promise me that is still true.”

“Park here.” Bruce instructed pointing towards a nearby lot that sat beneath the Wayne tower reconstruction. “I’m going to go check on the progress here.” 

* * *

A roaring scream echoed through the dark chamber from an unseen source. The only source of light in the expansive cavern was a small blazing fire with a few unlit torches scattered around its base. The walls were covered with etching of wars from long-gone eras. The images were increasingly bloody and violent as a shadowed figure moved silently towards the fire. She stopped only for a moment to run her hand along the image of a woman locking swords with armored figure that was rising above her. The scream echoed again urging her forward. She grabbed up one of the torches, quickly lighting it before pressing onwards. As the fire caught on the torch, it illuminated her bright blue eyes and ebony hair. Her features were framed by the golden tiara that wrapped itself around her face. 

Diana Prince drew her sword in her free hand as she approached a steep decline that seemed to disappear into the dark abyss that the cavern had been leading her to. The images had grown older as she pressed onward, until she could no longer recognize them even from her studies. The most prominent image in them caught her eye. There were dozens of warriors gathered draped in an assortment of colors representing their kingdoms. The most perplexing of which was a squad of women draped in the shades of Themyscira. The ship above them seemed to emit a strange red light that grew brighter as she approached. 

The light forced her to shield her eyes for a moment before it exploded from the wall and seemed to encircle her for a moment before shooting down the tunnel as the scream echoed again. She went to take a step when the walls around her suddenly cracked and shifted with a thundering echo that felt as though it threatened to destabilize the tunnel. The scream echoed again sending her charging down the tunnel now ignoring the symbols and calling after it. The light arced from the walls amid each of the conflicts causing deeper cracks wherever it impacted. 

The light ripped through the eyes and heads of people wielding increasingly barbaric weaponry as they got more brutal as the tunnel grew longer. Every few times the light would arc from a picture it would encircle her before leaping back into the walls. The scream came from just around a corner that was a few feet in front of her. She went to sprint around the corner when the tunnel seemed to cave in….

Diana jolted awake, her hand having instinctively wrapped around her still sheathed sword that lay beneath her pillow, the handle sticking out just within her reach. Her eyes scanned the room trying to pinpoint anything out of the ordinary but failed to find anything to have put her on edge. She shook her and laid her head back to her pillow, shooting a quick glance towards the picture frame that set on her bed stand. She closed her eyes and could still see the flames envelope the plane. She cursed to herself before pulling herself from her bed and walking towards the windows of her cabin.

* * *

Lois shrugged off the nearest doctor that was trying to tend to her, “I’ve got to get to this to paper.” She shot back at Perry, who was standing a few feet back from the team of medical professionals that were trying to tend to her.

“Damn it, Lane. I’ve already got a dozen good reporters on this story trying to determine who those people were, I don’t need you putting yourself at further risk on this.”

“A dozen reporters are great and all, but your one me is still sitting here in this shithole, getting poked and prodded. I am fine.”

“At best your judgement is clouded, at worst you suffered some kind of actual head trauma if you think there’s a snowball chance that I am letting you out of this room to try and cover that attack when they are still trying to pull the shrapnel out of you. Even if I didn’t give two horse shits about you, that violates every single rule regarding journalistic objectivity that I can possibly think of.” He shot back, “The Planet is already covering your treatment. It’s my fault you were there, so just lay back and let these people take care of you.”

She pulled away from the doctors and placed her feet on the ground, staring at Perry with narrowed eyes, “How long did it take me to get first in my line on the Invasion out?”

“Don’t.”

“That’s what I thought. I watched the world end and was at the center of it. This.” She motioned at the blood-stained wound on her leg, “Is a glorified splinter. Let me handle my job then get it looked at.”

“I won’t have a one-legged star reporter regardless of your ego.” Perry again shot back, “end of discussion. Once you get out of here, I will grant you as many op-eds as you can write on the matter so that you can defend your brightly colored flyboy to your heart’s content, you’ve earned that much.”

“But you come first.” A shaky voice finished from around the corner, before a bespectacled Clark Kent tripped and tumbled into the room.

“Kent! Where the bloody hell have you been for the past 16 god forsaken hours?!”

Clark raised his hands defensively from the ground, “Sorry Mr. White, I had car trouble and then by the time I hit the office,” he motioned to Lois, “I did not have a chance to get that article on your desk, but you’ll have it.”

“Make damn sure of it.”

Perry continue to lay into Clark while Lois sat puzzled for a moment before looking up at them, “Fine.”

Perry turned to her, “Did you just agree?”

“On one condition.”

“Name it.”

“Smallville. Put Smallville on it.” 

* * *

The scene around the destroyed monument was still a flurry of activity as techs struggled to find every piece of shrapnel that the explosive had sent flying. Most of the bodies had been shipped away but pools of blood still lay on the stage from where the Mayor and a few of his support staff had fallen. The crowd had been largely spared of casualties, but the grass was charred and filled with singed metal. A dark figure knelt on the roof above, cloaked in a long black cape that hid any recognizable features from any passers-by aside from two large protrusions that capped the striking figure in the moon’s light.

His eyes followed the chaos for only a moment before shifting upwards towards the buildings that surrounded the square. It only a few seconds before he spotted what he was looking for: a building with several cameras aimed towards the square. A quick series of taps on his gauntlet elicited a bright glow as he began to ping away at the camera’s firewalls. The firewall did not manage to slow him but for a minute before granting him access. 

Panels slid into place in front of his eyes and lit up giving him the view from the camera. He slid his finger around the gauntlet directing the feed and guiding himself through the archived footage that had not been taken by the authorities. A slight smirk appeared on his face as the camera locked on the frozen Superman and the pair of mercenaries. His eyes locked on a small shard that dropped from the man’s hand as the authorities grabbed him. It had a slight green glimmer to it that caught the light as it dropped into the sewer grate. 

He closed the footage and turned back towards the square. They were focused on everything except the true treasure trove that was lying beneath their feet. “Alfred.” He spoke into his microphone causing the man to jolt awake back at the computer in the penthouse.

“Calibrate my feed to begin scanning for unknown radiation or energy signatures. Try to match any frequency you find with sources from the invasion, specifically the general’s invasion fleet.” Bruce instructed as he knelt and zoomed his vision in on the sewer grate with a slight tilt to his head. 

“What do you think you found?”

“An Achilles’ heel.”

Alfred watched the feed silently before shaking his head, “Don’t tell me.”

“I really need that signature Alfred.”

“Always worried about scrubbing through the sewers after your trinkets and crocodiles but nary a thought paid to that one that has to try and wash that stench out of Kevlar and spandex.” His fingers flew across the keyboard as he went, “Isolating the signatures. Trying to separate his signature away from the gem’s. They are strikingly similar, almost complementary sir.”

Bruce cocked his head slightly, “What exactly is this material?” He wondered aloud still idly watching the flurry of activity beneath him. The temperature had started to drop rapidly as the night had drawn on. The cape draped around his shoulders had managed to dull the sharp cold that had cut through the air. He drew it in tighter around himself as he turned his attention back towards the sewer grate. 

The isotopes signature appeared on his heads-up-display and began pinging around the area trying to locate trace amounts of it in the area. “I’m receiving the readings now Alfred, thank you.” 

Alfred leaned forward in his seat as the isotope’s signature was scrolled across the screen in front of him. “Be careful sir.” 

Bruce clicked the microphone off in response and leapt from the rooftop. His cape caught the wind and sent him flying silently towards the back corner of the crime scene. His eyes scanned below him ensuring that no one saw him as he arrived at the grate. His eyes immediately locked onto the reading where the man had dropped the element. There was a seeming pool of radiation that was invisible to the naked eye, the exact spot where it had fallen before the reading formed a trail down and into the sewer. Bruce nodded and cursed to himself before prying the nearest manhole cover up and dropping into the sewer.

* * *

Alfred started to shut down the computer when suddenly the screen turned red. An alarm began blaring causing him to start trying to identify the source. His first suspicion was proven correct as he checked the external firewalls that something or someone had already torn through. The server’s security was already trying to ping their signal away from his current location as the outside source tried to trace his location. 

Alfred quickly began a counter trace and tried to reinforce the firewall with additional levels of encryption. The unknown person quickly made short work of the additional security and began to trace back through the global location pings that he had managed to put out. He tried a final round of security procedures before the hacker tore through them again. He cursed under his breath, grabbing up a nearby chair and rearing back as a single line of text appeared on the screen: “Found you.”

Alfred throw all the force he could manage in as he slammed the chair into the computer’s monitor and tower. Several blows later, the system was reduced a smolderingly piece of charred metal. He dropped the chair and caught his breath listening to the quiet sparks. The image of the words was seared into his mind. 

He stumbled backwards and slid down the wall, cursing loudly, before reaching for his phone and attempting to reach Bruce through their secondary communication line.

* * *

Clark pulled himself from the car, followed closely by Jimmy Olsen, and scanned the busy crime scene in silence for a moment. “What do you think we are gonna find that the cops haven’t yet Mr. Kent?” Jimmy came around the back of the car, camera in hand, and looked towards the towering reporter. 

“For the last times Jimmy, it’s Clark.” He corrected before turning back to the young camera man, “and well,” He pushed his glasses up and started towards the police tape, “if what Lois keeps telling me is true, then reporters have a certain sense for things that law enforcement doesn’t. I’m hoping I can channel a bit of that sense if she isn’t here to.”

Jimmy nodded eagerly taking it in as Clark spoke and walked towards the tape barring them from the crime scene. Clark tilted his head slightly trying to get a better look at the shards of the former monument. The large stone replica of his emblem was a few feet from him. The wind caught his hair causing him to pull his coat in tighter around himself. The cold far from bothered him but Jimmy was watching him like a hawk. He could not shake that strange feeling that flooded him when the blast went off. That moment of hesitation was as alien as he was, and he could not figure out what had caused it. 

Those thugs had been run of the mill as far as he knew and the take down had been clean. They were ready for him though, whoever had hired them to take out the ceremony wanted him here. The blast would have been more effective if the crowd had not been warned by the initial rocket attack that he stopped. He ran his hand through his hair as he started to pace the exterior of the scene. He directed Jimmy around the opposite direction. A strange static caught his ear drawing his attention upwards. His eyes locked onto a camera that would’ve seen both him and the monument at the time of blast, but that was not the source of the static, it was coming from across the street. 

His eyes tracked it across the city’s skyline and found a strange black figure that was scanning the scene as well. “Hello there.” He muttered as watched the figure launch from the top of the roof and glide silently and otherwise unnoticed across the sky before landing where he had frozen. Clark held his position as the figure scurried away towards a manhole cover before disappearing from his direct view. He clinched his jaw and tried to scan the sewer system, but something blocked his view. 

“Mr. Kent?” Jimmy’s voice suddenly startled him back to reality, “Did you find something?”

“Why, Jimmy I think I might’ve found us a story. Get pictures there, there, and there.” He directed Jimmy to a few random points before turning on his heels and walking back towards the van. The figure was engrained in his mind. The bomber? He certainly thought so.

* * *

Bruce dropped into the sewer, spreading his cape to slow his descent moments before splashing down. He released his cape allowing it to drop back behind him. The eye pieces slid back into place and activated night vision illuminating the dark tunnel. The isotope’s trail was clear as the heads-up display picked up on the trace sources of its radioactive signal. He marched solemnly deeper into the sewer. The stink was familiar but there were no threats here unlike his previous venture though Gotham’s sewers. 

The fact that even metropolis’ sewers were better than parts of Gotham was enough to make even him chuckle. The hunt used to be his favorite part of this. A mystery to solve that enveloped his mind, but this was not the same. Each step seemed to grow heavier, but he barely noticed as he rounded corner after corner. He shook his head as he rounded the corner trying to push himself forward. He blinked as rounded a final corner before coming face-to-face with a familiar couple. A mustached man and a blonde woman that stared at him with pleading looks. 

His hand had begun to tremble causing him to grasp it with the other. He stood staring at them for a few seconds before lifting his foot to move forward when a gunshot went off causing him to draw a batarang and spin around before glancing back and finding the two people fallen in a puddle of blood. He shook his head again and they were gone.

The isotope’s trail lead upward towards a manhole cover. He exploded onto the street and the trail went cold. He cursed under his breath scanning the surrounding area for a camera that might’ve picked up a trail on what had happened to it but found nothing. His phone suddenly started ringing. He tapped the ear on his cowl and growled into it, “Yes?” He realized as he answered that it was the emergency line, “Is everything okay Alfred?”  
“We’ve been compromised.” The man on the other end replied. “I burned the system and ditched them into the harbor, scrubbed the apartment, but the camera you used was a trojan horse. They found us in minutes. The firewalls barely slowed them Bruce.”

“To hell with the apartment and the computers, are you safe?”  
“I don’t know. The cameras, the building, our entire system could have been compromised with the way they were hacking.”

“We gotta get you back to Gotham quietly and get you in the cave. It’s the safest place on the planet.” Bruce tapped a few buttons on his gauntlet and an engine’s roar shattered the silence of the night. “I’m sending your coordinates to rendezvous at now.”

“Belay that.” Alfred replied, the soft click of a gun’s slide, was loud as thunder to Bruce, “I can get out of the city myself. If we meet, it will put you at further risk and you have to be able to track this thing unhindered or compromised any further at least.”

“My system already has been.” 

“My thoughts exactly sir.”

“Old school then,” Bruce muttered to himself as the sleek black vehicle appeared from around the corner, “Make secure contact the second you’re in the cave. I’m gonna need you on this old friend.”

“It won’t be more than a day or two Master Wayne. God’s speed.”

The line clicked dead leaving Bruce standing alone on the street bathed in headlights. The world suddenly felt far more haunting as his eyes scanned the rooftops for threats. The tremor in his hand was gone. He clinched his fist and hoped in the car before slamming the gas and speeding into the night.


End file.
